EngageEventsMartyrdom and the Coptic Church
Citizenship Icon Dialogue Icon

Martyrdom and the Coptic Church

The SNF Paideia designated course Orthodox America (RELS 3100/6100) taught by Professor Reyhan Durmaz invites all Penn community to the following lectures during class time. To register and for the readings, email Dr. Durmaz at rdurmaz@upenn.edu

Candace Lukasik, Assistant Professor of Religion at Mississippi State University will speak on “martyrdom and the Coptic Church.”

Candace Lukasik is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Anthropology at Mississippi State University and a former postdoctoral research associate at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. She earned her PhD in sociocultural anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, and her research focuses on the intersections of transnational migration, religion, race, and empire. Her first book Martyrs and Migrants: Blood and the Politics of Persecution (under contract with New York University Press) examines the everyday processes and practices that shape transnational Coptic communal formation and belonging as it interfaces with the tension between their minority status in Egypt and their racial-religious placement within an American Christian conservative landscape. Her work on Middle Eastern Christianity, migration, and U.S. empire has received support from the American Association of University Women, the American Academy of Religion, the Social Science Research Council, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion in International Affairs, the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion, the Louisville Institute, the Fetzer Institute, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University, among others.

poster orthodox america lecture series

Related Content

Other Events of Interest

A Conversation with Michael Smerconish
Oct 2
Red & Blue Exchange

Polarization and the Media in American Politics: A Conversation with Michael Smerconish

Polarization and the Media in American Politics: A Conversation with Michael Smerconish Michael Smerconish is one of the nation’s most visible media personalities, with a daily radio show on Sirius/XM and a Saturday CNN show. He also provides analysis on CNN for big events, writes columns and books, and more. Maybe most uniquely: Michael is one of the few voices in the media who can’t be pigeonholed ideologically. He’ll be fielding questions on what it’s like to be somewhere in the center in our increasingly ideological media, how the media shapes our politics, what we can do to build a media that better serves the public, and whether prominent figures should be blacklisted from the media if they can’t tell the truth. We’ll also cover the state of politics and whether our two party system is capable of representing Americans like him in 2023. Michael will also field questions from the audience.Learn More
woman standing on bridge
Oct 24

Gender and Orthodoxy

The SNF Paideia designated course Orthodox America (RELS 3100/6100) taught by Professor Reyhan Durmaz invites all Penn community to the… Learn More
The Struggle over Israeli Democracy: The Role of Academia
Oct 26
Perry World House

The Struggle Over Israeli Democracy: The Role of Academia

In her talk, Bloch will review the government's recent attempts to weaken the judiciary and discuss, in comparative and historical perspectives, the challenges these attempts pose to  democracy. She will discuss the popular movement resisting those attempts and the special role of academia in this battle. Finally, Bloch will address the complex relationship between the judicial overhaul and the protests against them, to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.Learn More